It was a Dark and Stormy Night… One spring day as I stared out at the dreary rainy weather, I reminded myself of the saying “April showers bring May flowers.” And I love May flowers (tulips, especially!) so a part … Continue reading →

Undiscovered Nuggets of Gold One time when I was in the car with my daughter, she played clips of songs from Disney movies. I couldn’t see her phone; I could only hear the music. It sounded incredible—only I was surprised … Continue reading →

And Other Writing Obstacles We often throw around the term “writer’s block’. It’s a terrific catch-all phrase for why we’re not writing (when we think we should be writing). I’ve argued before that there’s no such thing as writer’s block—my friend once … Continue reading →

Women in the Writing World Did you know the first know author in the history of world literature was a woman?  Seriously.  Enheduana was a royal princess and high priestess who lived in the 23rd century BCE in the city of … Continue reading →

A Table for Two: You and Your Writing I need to walk a fine line as a book coach. I want to support my clients, but I also have to hold them accountable. I offer flexible deadlines because I understand … Continue reading →

Moving the Goal Posts I was lamenting to an author friend how hard “traditional” publishing success is to come by. While she agreed, she also cautioned me, not so much about my perspective of “success” (something I’ve learned must be different for … Continue reading →

Lessons From Legends I read an article about the 19th century English Poet John Keats, who died of tuberculosis at age 25. He’d had a traumatic childhood—his father dying when he was 8, his mother remarrying then abandoning him and his … Continue reading →

The Camera is Watching My daughter’s friend told a story of a girl who set her phone camera on time-lapse as she did her homework. The goal was discipline: when she looked back at her time-lapse video, she didn’t want … Continue reading →

Crunching The Numbers There’s always so much talk, worry, emphasis and hand-wringing over social media. How much should you, as a writer, be on it? What kind of content? How does it help you build your author platform?  The conventional answer is … Continue reading →

Or Not I’m sure you know the expression, “know the rules before you break the rules.” It holds true for writing, absolutely. There is such a thing as a bad story; writing may be subjective, but yes, there are “rules” that can … Continue reading →